We support our world-leading research community through the provision of training and development at each stage of a research career from PhD to Professor.  

The Researcher Development Programme is structured around the Vitae Researcher Development Framework, and complements your discipline-specific training by offering workshops and course covering: 

• Research skills and techniques 
• The research environment 
• Research management 
• Personal effectiveness 
• Communication skills 
• Networking and teamworking 
• Career management.   

Vitae's RDF is a useful independent reference point: you can use it to identify your own priorities, track your progress over time, and articulate your skills in job applications, regardless of which institution you move to next. 

For more information and to book on our courses see the Researcher Development Sharepoint Site (current staff and students only).  

Durham Centre for Academic Development (DCAD)

The Academic Skills Centre is a team within the Durham Centre for Academic Development.  

Working in collaboration with the Researcher Development team in DCAD, offers a range of development opportunities for research students. Part of these sessions is a focus on language choices. Some workshops may therefore be more suitable for international researchers who wish to refine their understanding of academic communication. 

For more information on ASC term-time Doctoral Communication Workshops, please see the team’s Sharepoint site. There is no charge for the service and any PhD candidate, Masters by Research student, visiting researcher, PGRA, or staff member is welcome to attend. 

If you teach or plan to teach, DELTA is open to postgraduate researchers, post-docs, and part-time teaching staff who've taught at Durham for at least 30 hours in the previous two years DELTA provides an opportunity to develop and enhance your practice in learning and teaching.  

Completion of the programme leads to the University award and Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, a professional accreditation from the UK professional body for teaching and learning in higher education, and recognised across UK Higher Education.

Through our Evaluation for Teaching Excellence Toolkit we provide research informed approaches to allow you to evolve and enhance your teaching. Access the toolkit via our resourcebank.

Many departments offer paid Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) roles, giving you real teaching experience. 

Postgraduate Research (PGR) students who are employed to undertake paid teaching activity at the University are required to complete the PGR Teaching Induction programme. This has been mandatory at Durham since 2005/6 and is a requirement of the QAA Code of Practice.  

Students who successfully complete the programme are granted payment authorisation by HR and can be paid by their departments.   

The induction programme runs three times a year (September/October, January and June). Both students and departments are responsible for ensuring the induction programme is completed by those who are scheduled to undertake teaching activity. 

This induction programme is only for students who have been advised by their department that they must complete this training as a requirement of their employment contract.   

Your academic department’s PGR Co-Ordinator holds the booking links needed to book onto the live sessions via our workshop booking system - Inkpath. 

Further information about the PGR Teaching Induction, including format and content of the sessions, can be found on the PGR Teaching Induction SharePoint pages for current students. 

DCAD runs a peer mentoring/coaching scheme as part of the Researcher Development Programme, in which postgraduate researchers are trained to become peer coaches and mentors for fellow PGRs. It is a genuinely reciprocal model, in which you train alongside other doctoral researchers and then support each other directly. Invitations are typically circulated by departments and DCAD's Academic Development Advisors, so keep an eye on emails from your department, or contact DCAD directly to ask about the current round. 

Please see Durham Centre for Academic Development’s section for more information.